Under the sponsorship of H.E. President of Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University(IAU), Prof. Abdullah Al-Rubaish, King Fahd University Hospital in Al-Khobar(KFHU), represented by its Directorate of Medical Laboratories, activated the (World Laboratory Day) in the main lobby of the hospital, in the presence of the Dean of Medicine, Dr. Bassam Awari, Director General of KFHU, Dr. Muhammad Al-Shahrani, and the consultant pathologist who is the Director of the Department of Medical Laboratories and Blood Bank Dr. Amal Al-Adini.
KFHU D.G, Dr. Muhammad Al-Shahrani, said “this event is a part of events and activities series implemented by the hospital aiming to raise the level of awareness among attendees and targeted groups”.
Dr. Amal Al-Adini, stated “this day included an exhibition of 8 pillars; safety as priority and quality as a standard, blood draw, biochemistry, immunology lab, hematology lab, microbiology lab, histology lab, blood bank lab, and diagnostic cell and molecular genetics lab”.
She added that the goal of organizing this day is to educate the public about the vital role of the laboratory through diagnosing their diseases and directing treatment to doctors along with methods of taking samples and answering their questions such as the reason for rejecting the sample and other medical inquiries that constitute a permanent question, as she also stated that the day targets the clinical doctors to raise their awareness with the types of tests available and the obstacles they may encounter.
Al-Adini commented that many people think that the role of medical labs is limited to blood drawing and analysis with a stereotyped image depicts that as soon as the blood sample is entered into a device the results will come, whereas medical labs is a science called "Laboratory Medicine", with many sub-specialties which is the case for KFHU medical labs where we find; hematology lab, histology lab, microbiology lab, and other various labs, and all these labs require separate specialized training. She also commented that they try their best to raise the awareness of community sectors with this issue mentioning that those who are in charge of the laboratories are unknown soldiers though the great efforts they exert, and this why we were keen to display videos illustrate the journey of samples from the begin of the process of taking the sample till the result appears according to samples various types, whether blood, tissues or microorganisms.
Meanwhile she pointed out that the KFHU medical laboratories have recently witnessed huge developments, including expansion projects, besides the addition of modern tests, and new devices considered unique and rare in the Eastern Region for delivering quick and accurate results in record time. It is better mentioned that KFHU medical laboratories are accredited nationally by "CBHAI" and internationally by "CAP" and “JCI”.
Moreover, Dr. Al-Adina indicated that the Medical Laboratory Directorate presented 27 lectures, 5 research studies, and trained 120 male and female trainees in 2021, mentioning that the directorate has 233 employees distributed in 13 departments examined more than 4 million samples.
